The Donald Threatens Ireland Council Over Doonbeg Remodel

Fiachra Ó Cionnaith reports that new Doonbeg owner Donald Trump is already settling into the neighborhood with his trademark humility and gentle ways.

This time he's threatening the Clare County Council should they obstruct his efforts to strengthen Doonbeg's coastal defenses and to fix some of its holes.

Documents posted on their website by environmental lobby group Friends of the Irish Environment show tensions between lawyers for the US investment mogul and the council after Mr Trump brought “rock armour” on site to strengthen the defences of the Doonbeg golf course against coastal erosion.

The golf course suffered €1m worth of damage during storms that battered the coast last winter. However, the use of rock armour to protect the site is banned, according to the detailed 2011 planning permission document allowing the golf course’s development.

Mr Trump bought the site for a reported €15m in February and announced plans for a major rebuild.

Documents obtained by FIE under Access to Information on the Environment show Mr Trump attempted to reduce the risk of weather damage to the course following this winter’s storms which, according to his solicitors, led to “unprecedented damage” in a “major erosion event”.